Refrigerator



Jan. 26, 1943. Y IRUTHENBURG REFRIGERATOR Filed Feb. 15, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Patented Jan. 26, 1943 bnmlvansviu ServeIn,N Y N. g c. eworh,

Application February 15,

i V 5 Claims. My invention relates to refrigeration, and it is an object of the invention to provide an imlnost frequently used. I

Another object of the invention is to provide Another object of the invention is to provide an improved refrigerator having Another object of the invention is to provide such a receptacle which is transparent so that trapping of the cold air in the pocket defined by tacle will not interfere with visibility for specification, and from the Fig.1isa

which it relates, claims hereinafter set forth.

front view, partly broken away, of a refrigerator em dying the invention:

Fig. 2 is a sectional view on line 22 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a detail sectional view on line 3-1 in Pig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a detail sectional view on line 4-4 in P18. 2;

the invention; and

Fig. 6 is a detail sectional view on line 6-8 in mg. 5.

Referring to Fig. l, the refrigerator illustrated is provided with refrigerating apparatus including a cooling unit I. located orr cs e, Ind assignor to Y., a corporation of in the upper left to cabinet, U -shaped members hand corner of the storage space. At the right side of the unit ll and below it, is a series of The refrigerator is accessible by means oi a door i2. As best shown by Fig. 2, the front ends of the drawers Ii when thedrawers are in closed position are spaced substantially from the door I! to provide storage space l3.

Referring to Figs. 3 and 4, each of the drawers includes vertically extending side walls i 5, a back wall I6, and a front wall or panel II. For the purpose of slidably mounting the drawers in the II are' welded or end portion of the lower legs of the members 2i may have rollers adapted to ride under the.

upper legs of the channels I I. Since the mem bers 2| only move approximately half the distance that the drawers move, owing to the rollrangement is provided for the reason overall width of the front wall I! such dimensions that it can be door opening and that the must be of moved through the the latter is usually smaller 'corneras well as to reinforce front walls ll.

' also avoiding in some the auxiliary space l5, as shown by Fig.

' panels 32 welded to than the distance between the inner side walls of the cabinet. This rib 28 also is provided along the lower or bottom wall of the cabinet and along the upper wall thereof at the right of the cooling unit so that the upper edge of the wall If on the upper drawer will be closely adjacent to the rib while the lower edge of the bottom drawer will similarly be disposed closely adjacent to the rib on' the bottom wall. The depth of the front walls ll of the drawers is such that when the latter are in closed position, only small interstices exist between said front walls, and preferably such edges and also the side edges of the panels will have inturned flange portions 21 to avoid a sharp the wall structure.

This arrangement in effect provides a closed and practically sealed partition between the main storage space into which the drawersproject and the auxiliary space I! when the drawers are closed.

Inasmuch as the cooling unit proper is within the storage space into which the drawers project, air currents will keep this storage space at the low temperature desired, whereas the auxiliary storage space IS in front of the drawers will be space I3 is advantageous for the storage of articles of food most frequently used and which will be first accessble when the door is opened without rendering it necessary to open any of the drawers. This avoids in many instances opening of the drawers with consequent heating of the main storage space into -which the drawers project. Moreover the relatively infrequent opening of the main compartments will tend to conserve the energy used to lower the refrigerator temperature and inasmuch as foods of high moisture content can be stored in the auxiliary compartments which are not included in the air circulation which passes over the cooling unit, the moisture content of such foods will be conserved, thereby avoiding rapid frosting of the cooling unit with theconsequent disadvantages of frequent' "defrosting operations and measure loss of efficiency that results from operation with a heavily frosted cooling unit. For the purpose of allowing air currents to'circulate within the mainstorage space, the bottoms of the drawers are provided with grills or shelves 30 of open construction so that in effect and with the drawers closed, the main storage space will be substantially identical to the storage space ordinarily provided in the conventional refrigerator.

For the purpose of storing articles of food in II, receptacles are provided on the front walls of the drawers and in the construction shown by Figs. 1 to 4, these receptacles are formed by extending the side walls 3, through openings in the front walls H to points and preferably at the points where these walls project through the front wall l'l a welding connection 3| may be effected. The bottom walls of the receptacles may comprise separate metal the forwardly projecting ends of the side walls I! and to the lower ends of the panels II or such panels 32 may constitute integral and outwardly directed portions of the walls I! which may be subsequently welded to the forwardly projecting portions of the side walls l5. From a manufacturing point of view, forming the pane1 32 integral with the wall l1 and then bending them outwardly to form in front of the drawers toms for wall ll.

with impermeable as it cannot easily the receptacles would perhaps be the most economical method of. manufacture. The front wall of the receptacle on the drawers comprises a piece of glass or other transparent material which has its edges received in channels llformed'at the front edges of the forwardly projecting portions of the side walls l5.

Thus the receptacles are formed of impermeable walls and the front wall is transparent. While the wall 33 might be composed of metal, the use of transparent material is preferred as it enables the user to see the contents of the receptacle very easily.

As arranged in Fig. 1, one of these receptacles is mounted on each of the drawers and the lower one is of greater depth so as to more readily accommodate articles of greater height such as bottles of milk and the like. Also it will be noted that a smaller receptacle, indicated at 31, is provided on the lower drawer and, while this is not essential, it is advantageous under certain circumstances. This smaller receptacle may be formed ofmetal ends and bottom which may be welded or otherwise secured to the front The construction of the receptacles walls is of considerable importance and may be briefly explained with respect to Fig; 2 where arrows are shown to indicate the direction of air currents first occurring when the door is opened. Before this door is opened, it may auxiliary space is at a fairly low temperature exposed to air at a considerably higher temperatureand naturally air currents are setup to equalize temperature conditions. {The cold air within the space l3 will flow downwardly as indicated by arrows and be supplanted by warm air from the exterior of the cabinet, but this is not true of the cold air within the receptacles flow upwardly and theimpermeable walls prevent its flowing downwardly, Thus this cold air is trapped and a longer period of time will be required before the temperature of the air in these .exterior to the refrigerator. Usually the user of the'refrigerator only opens the door for an pockets will increase to that instant and this is hardly suficient to change the temperature of the cold air in the receptacles wh le it is suilicient to cause a rapid evacuation of the cold air notjpocketed. Without receptacles of this character, the space l3 would be quickly warmed when the door is opened as all of the cold air would flow downwardly and outwardly in a short interval of time. It should be 'appreciated, therefore, that the pocketing of the cold air in the receptacles on the front walls of the drawers will enable more efficient operation of the refrigerator, and furthermore will more efficiently maintain the articles in said receptacles at the required low temperature.

Figs. 5 and 6 disclose a drawer and receptacle that may be used in place of the drawer shown by the first four figures, and in this construction, the receptacles are formed integrally from glass or other transparent material as indicated at 38 and it will be understood that the end walls, front wall and bottom of this receptacle are so constructed of the transparent material. For supporting the receptacles on the front walls l'l ofthe onthe opposite end walls which may have openings ll for hooking over headed pins ll on the front wall ll of the drawer. This arrangement enables removing the receptacle without difllbe assumed that the entire drawers, integral lips 39 may be provided:

is more frequently used and v of such character that they affected by the higher temperature of the air outside of the refrigerator. The secondary receptacles are provided for receiving food that which are mounted in this auxiliary space and these receptacles are pocket cold air and ing from the scope of the following claims.

What is claimed is: 1. A slidable rack for a refrigerator including 3. A refrigerator including wall structure forming a food space of given depth, a slidable shelf in said of the food space leav' g a front space between the front wall of said shelf and the front wall of the food space, a container in said front space mounted on said shelf, so that the container is moved out trap cold air when said container is moved from the food space and afford visibility for determining location of articles therein.

4. A refrigerator including wall structure forming a food space of given depth, a slidable shelf so that the container is moved out of the food space when said shelf is drawn forward, said container having solid walls forming the bottom and all sides thereof to trap cold air therein when said container is moved from the food space.

5. In a refrigerator including a cabinet having chamber for goods to be refrigerated and provided with a doorway, and means for refrigerating said chamber, a plurality of drawers in said chamber, each drawer having a transverse partition behind its front end that divides the drawer into a front compartment and a rear compartwithdrawn through of the difl'erent drawers co-acting to substantially close the portion of the chamber occupied by the rear compartments against the escape of cold in said chamber.

said doorway, said partitions 

